Man Sues Whole Foods Over Exploding Green Tea

Some people drink tea to put a little spark into their day, but a Nashville man got explosions instead. He’s suing Starbucks and Whole Foods after bottles of Tazo green tea exploded twice in his possession. One time the bottle shattered in his hand, and another it blew up in his shopping cart. On one of the occasions, shards of glass damaged tendons in his hand that required two surgeries.

According to the Nashville City Paper, the victim/plaintiff says the hand injury has stifled his ability to work as a jeweler. He’s seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

From the City paper story:

The complaint says concerned Whole Foods employees gathered around and investigated the incident, with one commenting, “That’s really strange.”

If a drink has ever exploded on you, let’s hear about the punitive damages the beverages inflicted on you.

Whole Foods is in no way responsible for this as they didnt manufacture or package the tea. All they did was sell it. Are they supposed to inspect and test every single item that comes into the store? Now by all means sue Tazo all you want as it may be justified, but Im sick of all this sue whoever has the biggest pockets regardelss if they made the item or not.

Could be their storage and handling techniques. That’s why you include both the store and manufacturer in the suit. Last thing you want is the suit tossed because the store didn’t follow proper handling procedures, and you didn’t list them. Could also be the transit company. BUT, the blame might not be 100% on Tazo. Bottled liquids build up pressure. Add heat and cooling variables, and things can go wrong quickly. Especially with glass.

the over priming thing is easy to avoid, just measure better. Avoiding the other one requires the use of a Hydrometer. Simply take a sample once a day for 3 days and measure its density with they hydrometer; if the gravity of the brew drops between those three days… well then fermentation is still occurring and you need to wait. Once you get 3 samples that stay the same gravity, then you know fermentation has stopped and its safe to bottle.

I was thinking maybe there was some extreme fermentation in the bottle that caused it to explode? But that means it would have to be really old..weird. Tazo me one, shame on you, Tazo me twice, shame on me!

I don’t know exactly, but it could have been a combination of expanding pressure from ingredients and a weak bottle (bad batch of glass?). I once saw a jar of spaghetti sauce explode in a check out line…THAT was quite a mess.

I’d say that they will need to find a pretty large group of people willing to testify that their Tazo bottles also exploded, followed by some pseudo-scientist expert testimony about why it’s happening because of poor bottle design or fermentation, etc…

It was probably the same shipment. Once is a freak occurrance, twice speaks to some structural problem with the shipment of bottles. The first time was April 5 and the second was April 19. It had to have been the same shipment of tea.

My only thought is that when the bottles are nearing the end of production, they’re sterilized/pasteurized under high heat. This pulls a vacuum in the bottle, and why that “popup cap” stays down until opened, (same general process as home canning).

So, that combined with a bad batch of glass could cause an implosion if the exact right conditions are met.

Though, I can’t imagine the vacuum in the container being high enough to cause serious damage…But this is the only thought that makes any sense to me.

also, while the chance of having one bottle explode on you has got to be slim, what are chances of it happening twice? and he just happens to be a jeweler, which requires considerable dexterity of the hand and fingers? the mother of coincidences.

OK, I always feel bad when everyone knocks Phil, but it’s not green tea — it’s peach. I wouldn’t care but the article says it 3 times and there’s a huge image of peach tea.

When I first read this, I was on the side of the “victim.” But reading the article, I have to wonder why he went back to WF and bought the same tea just 2 weeks later. If I had to have surgeries on my injured hand, I’d stay clear of it. Not saying shenanigans yet, but has this happened to anyone else? Or just the same guy within 2 weeks. Hmmm…

This is crazy. What are they supposed to do, perform an ultrasonic scan on all bottles to make sure there are no flaws? The facilities where these products are produced have high quality-control standards. If this was a problem with an entire production run, we’d be hearing more about Tazo explosions. I’m thinking the first bottle was an unfortunate freak accident, and the second was him setting up his lawsuit.

But maybe he’s just really, really unlucky. Still doesn’t make suing everyone in sight the right response. The Whole Foods pulled the problem product, and there haven’t been widespread tea lacerations, so what’s the problem? Stuff happens.

Yes, I read the article. It’s unfortunate that he was injured. However, plenty of unforeseeable and ridiculously unlikely accidents happen every day. And like I said, something about the circumstances of this case make me suspicious. But hey, he’s well within his rights to go to court and try to prove that Whole Foods or Starbucks were somehow negligent. I wish him luck; that’s a tall order. What I’m saying is that sometimes, there’s no one to blame except blind chance. And she doesn’t pay out very well. Pinning blame on someone else who will pay better is wrong.

The way I understand these things to work, In order to determine who is at fault, you need records. In order to get records, you have to sue. The fact is, bottles of tea don’t normally explode, yet the man still has a valid legal complaint. It’s not exactly easy to figure out who to blame for that kind of thing. Is it a quality control issue with Starbucks; is it a handling issue at Whole Foods? A combination of things? The companies aren’t likely to just hand over the information, so… Even if they figure the cause is probably at only one company’s end, they still have to perform due diligence if they don’t want the case thrown out.

This is crazy. What am I supposed to do, perform a breathalyzer test before driving every time to make sure I’m sober? My buddies all said I was okay to drive, and they have high sobriety standards. If this was a problem with my driving, I’d be hearing more about me killing pedestrians. I’m thinking the first lady was an unfortunate freak accident and the second one was just setting up a lawsuit and jumped in front of my car.

But maybe they’re just really, really unlucky. Still doesn’t make suing everyone in sight the right response. I took a break from drinking, and there haven’t been widespread vehicular manslaughters, so what’s the problem? Stuff happens.

I have seen soda bottles explode, but it typically requires some external stimulation (such as black powder and a spark in a sealed bottle). I can’t imagine a situation where a bottle of PEACH tea would explode!

Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability: “One engaged in the business of selling or otherwise distributing products who sells or distributes a defective product is subject to liability for harm to persons or property caused by the defect.”

Products liability tends to be strict liability which means everyone in the distribution chain can get sued if the product is defective at the end. No one reasonably expects Whole Foods to really personally inspect every bottle but over the years, however, strict liability theory believes that they can better bear the costs of any accidents caused by a defective product they sold and that they were in a better position to find the fault than the plaintiff. If plaintiffs were still required to prove exactly who was at fault and show a contractual relationship with that party, they’d never recover anything.

I had a slightly carbonated fruit drink bottle explode on me, the bottle stayed in tact, but the bottle cap exploded off when I touched it and the contents (obivously fermented) exploded into my cube. Gyser style.

Thinking it was a contaminate in the bottle and sheer randomness, been drinking the brand for a while, never had any problems.

How will the lawyer for the OP prove that the bottle of Tazo tea is what cut his hand? Since it happened at home and it appears that there aren’t any witnesses.
Would they have to prove that 1, the bottle did in fact explode and 2, the bottle exploded while in his hand and caused damage.

His wife witnessed the first explosion, but no one witnessed the second; he alleges only that Whole Foods employees were “promptly aware” of it, which means they saw the broken bottle. Which makes me suspicious. He has to prove a lot more than you said, though. He has to prove that somewhere along the manufacturing path, a defect in the bottle, cap, or tea caused the bottle to fail, and that either Starbucks’ brewing and bottling process is inadequate to prevent such errors, or Whole Foods put the bottles out knowing they were defective. My guess is that one or both of the corporations will settle to make this go away, and this guy will get the payday he’s looking for. And we’ll never hear about another bottle of tea exploding ever again.

I don’t get it, tea doesn’t just spontaneously explode. I’m thinking that he either had to have dropped it, dropped something on it or shook it up otherwise why doesn’t the stuff just explode on the store shelves? We’d be reading of many stories like this if it were due to the ingredients.

The fact that he’s a jeweler and the injuries were to his hand is highly suspect. Not to mention the unlikelihood of two bottle of mere tea exploding without precedence or explanation. Isn’t it a bottle of champagne that will explode if touched with a metal object?

This has happened to me repeatedly throughout my life, but not with beverages. I’ve had an average of one can of Pillsbury biscuit dough explode in my hand every 3 years throughout my life (I’m 35); Sometimes I go as long as five years without something going BANG, once it happened twice in a week (different stores). One time, the can exploded so vigorously, the end-cap flew off hard enough to break three jars of pickles on the shelf.